26 November

Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying – Saturday

In qualifying ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the Yas Marina Circuit, neither of the Sauber F1 Team drivers was able to make it into Q2: Felipe Nasr finished with his Sauber C35-Ferrari in P19, whereas Marcus Ericsson ended up in P22. As was the case for today’s qualifying, the race will start under floodlights at 5 pm local time (2 pm CET).

Marcus Ericsson (car number 9):
Sauber C35-Ferrari (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
Qualifying: 22nd in Q1 (1:42.637 min / ultrasoft tyres)
3rd practice: 22nd (1:44.238 min / ultrasoft tyres / 20 laps)
“A disappointing qualifying for me. The car has been difficult to drive throughout the weekend, especially on the ultrasoft tyres. We were already struggling to find a good feel on them yesterday in the practice sessions. We knew that it would not be an easy qualifying. On my last lap in Q1 it was a shame that I pushed a bit over the limit and locked up the tyres into Turn 17. I lost all my lap time there. When it comes to tomorrow, the long-run pace was looking encouraging compared to the short-runs, so I am still optimistic that we can be stronger in the race.”

Felipe Nasr (car number 12):
Sauber C35-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
Qualifying: 19th in Q1 (1:42.247 min / ultrasoft tyres)
3rd practice: 19th (1:43.417 min / ultrasoft tyres / 22 laps)
“I felt that I extracted the maximum out of the car today. Although it was not enough to make it into Q2. I had a clean lap on my second set of ultrasoft tyres, so putting in a decent lap time. It was positive that we were able to make the tyres work better than on my first set. Besides that, I again had a misfire on my quick lap. Thinking about tomorrow, we need to make sure that we maintain our tenth position in the championship. This is our clear objective.”